Anyone drive a Hybrid car ?

Hope it serves you well.

We may as well keep this as the hybrid / range extender / fuel cell thread. That being the case have you seen Nissan’s latest engineering prototype? Forget the macho roadtester stuff at the start and read down into the detail about the Lotus 3-cylinder engine etc.

Moggy

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/Infiniti-Emerg-e-first-drive-2013-02-22

Well we picked up our Civic yesterday. First impressions are that it’s a really nice ride,
if anything quieter than our old Accord. Thanks to the CVT, very smooth acceleration.

Many years ago I had a hybrid motorcycle – I used to ride it there and push the damn thing back.

Regards,

kev35

🙂 Brilliant,.
I wonder if the roads will be able to be driven on in the future–grid lock round my way is terrible at times.

Do like the hydrogen fuel cell idea, drive the car for little run in on water

Everyone does

can really see the power companies pushing for these, guess they are buying up patents all the time to stop them.

Ah.. the good old “They have found a cure for cancer but the drug companies…” “They have an everlasting sharp razor blade but the blade companies..” conspiracy theory.

No, the fuel companies are trying desperately to develop an infrastructure route as they can see there’s plenty of money to be made making, storing and distributing hydrogen as the oil runs out. But it takes a lot of power (electricity) to make hydrogen with current technologies, so why go to the bother of converting all that electricity into a gas that needs storing at low temperatures and under pressure and then pay to transport that gas to the end users when they might just as well squirt the electricity straight down the existing power network and use that to power the car?

Moggy

Goverment say with old power stations being shut down and the stalling of new stations being built, power will be a problem with power cuts possible.
buy your electric cars and over load the poor electric system?,

to get the money back they will build new power stations and with smart meters in your house your electric car registered they will bump up the lecci bill
you will end up with no gain per mile then petrol.

Do like the hydrogen fuel cell idea, drive the car for little run in on water, when you are back home it runs your house also,
can really see the power companies pushing for these, guess they are buying up patents all the time to stop them.

I must say the whole aspect of electricity as a cheap and readily available energy source over the next decade seems unlikely, simply because of the current energy policy. It will be become steadily more expensive and more scarce.

Many years ago I had a hybrid motorcycle – I used to ride it there and push the damn thing back.

Regards,

kev35

Fortunately being retired fuel consumption is not an issue. My Lexus Soarer 4ltr V8 does 13mpg in complete silence and extreme comfort(which is very important to my due to disability). I did 685 miles in it last year. Road tax is £250(pre 2000) and my insurance is £265.Where I win is depreciation will be nil. I paid £1000 for it as I think the fuel consumption plays a big part in this as it dropped to this figure from just shy of £50,000 since 1997. Nice Mr Toyota also galvanised the whole body shell so I am not expecting it to rust out and it has only 94k on the clock.

A question though.
If the majority of people who drive a lot go green with hybreds and electric cars and pay little or no road tax and buy less fuel, how is the government going to bleed the motorist, road pricing maybe?

Goverment say with old power stations being shut down and the stalling of new stations being built, power will be a problem with power cuts possible.
buy your electric cars and over load the poor electric system?,

to get the money back they will build new power stations and with smart meters in your house your electric car registered they will bump up the lecci bill
you will end up with no gain per mile then petrol.

Do like the hydrogen fuel cell idea, drive the car for little run in on water, when you are back home it runs your house also,
can really see the power companies pushing for these, guess they are buying up patents all the time to stop them.

Looking at diesels and petrol cars they have jumped massively into the 80mpg bracket and I should imagine a 100 mpg production car is just round the corner!
If I was spending the cash it would be on a 86 mpg Fiesta which you know is always going to have a good resale value!

Good choice always with a good Ford, with 86mpg on the new ones also if they last and cost little to keep on the road, We own a
1998 Fiesta and its done 160k, with very little problems, just the normal tyers brakes oil changes and a few new shocks on the front the normal gaiters and cheap
rubbers, a few exhausts, would say I have not spent no more then £1.500 on it all the years ,only changed the original battery last year. still looks nice with just a few bubble spots on the arches, drives good gearbox and clutch still feeling tight. tappets a bit rattly thou always been common on this engine. get about 45mpg, we have owned the car from new so been very good value.

Absolutely they will.I think they are looking into the amount of foreign lorries using our roads for nothing in the near future.There seems to be quite a large quantity of foreign plated cars around as well

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9036613/Foreign-lorry-drivers-to-be-charged-to-use-British-roads.html

A question though.
If the majority of people who drive a lot go green with hybrids and electric cars and pay little or no road tax and buy less fuel, how is the government going to bleed the motorist, road pricing maybe?

I have nothing against Toll roads, as long as they are newly built, with private money.

Just getting back to the original subject, It looks very much as we’ll be getting a used Civic Hybrid.

No idea, but I’m sure they’ll find a way.

Nice motor Guv!

Moggy

Absolutely they will.I think they are looking into the amount of foreign lorries using our roads for nothing in the near future.There seems to be quite a large quantity of foreign plated cars around as well

Thankyou Moggy:)

No idea, but I’m sure they’ll find a way.

Nice motor Guv!

Moggy

Fortunately being retired fuel consumption is not an issue. My Lexus Soarer 4ltr V8 does 13mpg in complete silence and extreme comfort(which is very important to my due to disability). I did 685 miles in it last year. Road tax is £250(pre 2000) and my insurance is £265.Where I win is depreciation will be nil. I paid £1000 for it as I think the fuel consumption plays a big part in this as it dropped to this figure from just shy of £50,000 since 1997. Nice Mr Toyota also galvanised the whole body shell so I am not expecting it to rust out and it has only 94k on the clock.

A question though.
If the majority of people who drive a lot go green with hybreds and electric cars and pay little or no road tax and buy less fuel, how is the government going to bleed the motorist, road pricing maybe?

Its not a matter of convincing me! I don’t mind either electric -petrol or diesel I just think that the electric car should be available without the tax payer giving a £5 K incentive to buy it! The long term problem to my mind is the actual power generation as everything to do with electricity seems to be about generating more power whilst we don’t seem to curb our consumption in any way!

I’m just disappointed we’re all not zipping around in these…

😀

Apologies David. Leasing OPTION on EuroLeaf was spoken of, but did not exist last Autumn when I was on the Nissan job.

Even so, and considering the purchase, not lease option, £21,000 is not an enormous sum of money for a C-segment vehicle. It is a typical price for a mid-range Focus.

Used largely for short journeys as a second car you’d be mad to choose a diesel with all that entails by way of DPF replacement. If you drive a petrol Focus an average 10,000 / year, which I think is the current AA figure, it will cost you more than 11p / mile for petrol. With this differential of 8p/mile in fuel costs, and discounting the cheaper servicing on the EV, it will cost you £800 a year more or £2,400 over an average three year life on fuel costs alone. Residuals are similar.

And within that you get a nicer drive by a long way, so the ‘what it does’ is deliver a more pleasant driving experience.

I’ll never convince you, obviously. But you should really try a decent test drive in one some day.

Moggy

And another :’Running costs were reduced further with the 2013 updates, when Nissan gave owners the option of leasing the batteries instead of buying them – reducing the car’s purchase price by up to £5,000. Doing this also comes with the peace of mind that Nissan will replace the battery if it degrades significantly. The car maker estimates that over the course of a year’

So looking at what I have seen its £15,990 battery lease or £20,990 outright battery purchase which makes it an expensive car for what it does!!

I am not sure where your getting your information from on Leaf . There are plenty of sites telling me this:

With price reductions on both sides of the Atlantic, and a battery replacement promise, Nissan is clearly keen to lure you over to the EV side of the fence. The latest ploy comes in the form of a battery leasing scheme in the UK market. Dubbing them “Flex” models, cars bought with a leased battery will start at £15,990 (about $24,000) thanks to a British government grant scheme that knocks £5,000 ($7,700) off the price. It’ll then cost £70 ($108) and upwards a month to rent the battery depending on the contract and mileage. The new British-built version also comes with a swathe of improvements (over 100 claims Nissan), with top-billing going to the extended range — from 109 to 124 miles.

The big issue with fuel cell is the necessary infrastructure. Hydrogen, the likely fuel, is not easy to generate in huge quantities economically. And even if the projected biological generation happens, distribution and storage are many times more difficult and expensive than current road fuels as it has to be under huge pressures and low temperatures. As the infrastructure to distribute elctricity already exists it initially seems the more likely option.

But genuinely I don’t pretend to know all the answers, I merely have an involvement with both Toyota (Auris and Prius Hybrids and plug-in Hybrids) and Nissan (Leaf EV) and pass on what I have learned.

Moggy